Traditional external marketing assemblies are commonly employed to promote various commercial or organizational interests as well as events. For example, traditional external marketing devices may include some type of large object, such as signs, placards or novelty attention-grabbing devices that may be placed outside to catch a passerby's attention thereby promoting a certain business or event. In recent years, various inflatable external marketing devices have been deployed as marketing devices to attract public attention. Example of such air-filled based systems may include external balloon systems, as well as large inflatable figures or structures. Despite their use, such large inflatable devices have several drawbacks that limit their uses.
First, traditional large inflatable devices are typically expensive and simply not cost effective for most businesses to purchase for a specific promotion or event. As a result, most traditional large inflatable devices must be rented for short periods of time. This fact also limits the ability to personalize any large inflatable devices for a specific event or promotion.
Second, traditional large inflatable devices must be constantly re-inflated through one or more air pumps and/or blowers. Because of their dependence on such constant re-inflation, use of such large inflatable devices is limited by their access to adequate electrical power to re-inflate the devices. Moreover, the electrical costs can also be prohibitive over a long course of time further limiting the large inflatable devices' ability to be deployed for an extended period of time.
Third, traditional helium-based large inflatable devices are not cost effective. For example, a lack of private sector helium producers, federal regulations and decline in U.S. Federal Helium Reserves have resulted in significant price increases and dwindling supplies of commercially available helium. Much of the available helium gas is currently being diverted to industrial and/or medical uses, such as MRI's, cryogenic preservation as well as scientific applications such as particle accelerators. Under these conditions, it is simply not cost effective to continue production of helium-dependent inflatable marketing systems. As can be seen, there is a need for a single comprehensive solution to the limitations described above.
The current invention overcomes these limitations of, and indeed surpasses the functionality of such traditional external marketing assemblies. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a simple, versatile, easily-inflatable, modular, cost effective helium-free balloon assembly that may be compatible with a variety of attachment surfaces and may be used both inside and outdoors. In addition, such assembly may be configured to support larger and heavier balloons while still providing the aesthetic appearance and motion of a lighter than air display. Accordingly, the objects of the methods and apparatus described herein address each of the aforementioned problems and goals in a practical manner. Naturally, further objects of the inventive technology will become apparent from the description and drawings below.